1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to hood shields for protecting the hood and windshield of a vehicle.
2. Description of Related Art
A vehicle travelling at highway speeds creates fast moving air currents which generally follow the external surface of the vehicle. Air currents may carry debris and other objects such as dirt, stone chips, insects, etc. which may strike and damage the leading edges of the hood and the windshield of the vehicle.
A variety of shields and deflectors have been developed to protect the leading edge areas of the vehicle hood and to deflect debris and other objects carried in the air currents away from and over the front windshield of the vehicle. To attach the shield to the vehicle hood, a variety of different methods have been employed. In one type of shield, nut and bolt fastening devices are used to secure the shield to the vehicle hood. However, such bolt-nut fastening devices typically require drilling holes through the hood or other parts of the vehicle. In order to avoid drilling holes in the body of the vehicle, another type of shield uses straps to attach the shield to the vehicle hood. Generally, these prior shields are not readily attached to or detached from the vehicle hood to allow cleaning and polishing under the shield.